Word of the Year 2017

A few weeks ago, I purchased Lara Casey's Powersheets for 2017. I started working on them and finished them off just in time for the new year. I have LOVED the process and the freedom to make a mess and dream big on paper without it being perfect. If you think you can get a little messy and "brain dump" onto some paper, I'd recommend these! (My workbook is the year notebook that is now sold out as are the 6 month version HOWEVER last I heard, they were taking pre-orders for a Summer shipment! Link here)

What Matter's Most

One of the aspects of the Powersheets, is to look back at the time prior, to look at yourself and to think about what really Matter's most to you. In this process, I was reminded of what matters and what really could be worked on in my life, not just this year but always. So I created this Big Picture Vision Board. My life is pretty simple as a stay at home mom but these Powersheets can be used for even the stay at home mom whose goals are not big time career or life goals.

Word of the year

Another aspect of the Powersheets are to decide on a word that will describe what you want to focus on or what your year will embody. After working through the Powersheets Prep, I came up with my word:

Pinterest Link

I choose the word Joy after actually picking a different word but woke up the next morning feeling like Joy was more fitting. I am a melancholy personality and tend to live in the "glass half empty" world. Things in my environment affect me greatly, and can cause me to loss hope easily. I'm the ultimate introvert and need some alone time to recharge but in our current life, that isn't always possible :) So this year, I am deciding to do only things that bring me Joy and weed out the other stuff in my life that causes me to stumble. The following things are what I hope to Cultivate out of that Joy: A clean home (because it makes me happy and helps in my Joy), Growth in my Faith, My Marriage, a Life Giving Home and my Usborne Business. 
Theopedia's definition and comment on Joy is:

Joy is a state of mind and an orientation of the heart. It is a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope. It is something or someone that provides a source of happiness. It appears 88 times in the Old Testament in 22 books; 57 times in the New Testament in 18 books.^[1]^

Webster's dictionary definition: 1) to experience great pleasure or delight : REJOICE, 2) the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires: DELIGHT.

So far, having this reminder and this word to focus on has been a great benefit to my day to day life! I'm grateful for the reminder to be Joyful in my circumstances and can't wait to see all I learn this year while having this be my word! Hopefully in the next few days, I'll have a post about my GOALS for 2017!!! I'm excited about these!!

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Surviving the First Trimester

As you can probably gather from my absence from this blog and instagram, the first trimester of this pregnancy was ROUGH on me. Both Max and I feel like this has been the worst I've felt in all 3 pregnancies but who really knows because I think we forget the really bad parts so we keep having more. Maybe? Anyways, this one has been rough. I've been tired and melancholy as the 2nd trimester has entered in but I was sick for what felt like forever! Like willing myself to not throw up every waking moment kind of sick. I gained a total of 1 pound in the whole first trimester and that was in the 13th week when I finally felt a little bit better. SO this is what I basically lived on since about 5 weeks pregnant until 16 weeks. It was a long bout of morning sickness but these where lifesavers to make things a little bit more tolerable.

1. Peppermint lifesavers: anytime I was driving I have one in my mouth
2. Saltine Crackers
3. Cashews and Macadamian Nuts: The salty protein helps a lot!
4. Cheddar Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: More protein!
5. Pacific coast ice tea: Helped with getting liquid in me and the caffeine helped me keep moving through the day
6. Sprouts instant Oatmeal: I would eat this right before bed to help me not be so hungry in the night or morning.
7. Starbucks stainless steel cup
8. Driving myself everywhere we went

If you are in the dredges of the first trimester, take heart! It's for a good purpose and it will come to an end at some point. It's different for everyone and can be very challenging!

Family Pictures and an Announcement.....

Last week in the midst of our family having the worst stomach bug, we had family pictures schedule with the amazing Brianna Venzke Photography. She shoot our last family pictures a year and a half ago and I just loved them. She has moved twice since then but is a traveling photographer who comes back to Souther California often so when I heard she was heading this way, I made sure to schedule our session. I just love how these turned out! And how well she captured our family.

 Our poor little lady felt so crummy the whole time and was just not her normal self.

But when she got to put on her princess Elsa dress she gave us a little glimpse of her normal self with daddy being silly :)

And announcing.....

We are thrilled to announce that Baby #3 will be joining us sometime in May. My due date is May 28th but this baby is already measuring a week ahead of schedule which is typical for my babies so we usually don't make it past 39 weeks. We will see what God has in store with this little one but we are all very excited!!

We waited to tell the kids we were expecting until we were taking pictures so that she could capture it. The week before Aston had mentioned that my stomach looked like it had a baby inside so we told him he was right.

Aston was so cute when it clicked. He looked at Brianna and said, "Mommy has a baby in her belly!!!!" It was the best!

Leia was very confused and tried to look for the baby :)

Showing them the ultrasound picture.

Leia was over taking pictures and we wanted to get a cute one of them holding the ultrasound picture. This is what we got.....Hilarious! Max calls this picture, "Game Over!"

This is really how Aston feels. He is so excited!!

All photos are by Brianna Venzke Photography. She's amazing! Go check her out!!

Cooking with Kids

Last year while I was taking my blogging break, I wrote a guest post for Marissa of All In Good Twine for her Mommy Monday segment. If you are looking for tips on how to cook with your kids, head over to check it out.

I am passionate about

Inspired: Beyond Bath Time

Moms! I have a book that I think every mom should read! I have been discouraged in my role as a mother as we have been thrust head first into some discipline challenges. Aston has hit the "twos" with a terrible everyone has mentioned. It has been hard to watch our sweet boy sin but we are all born sinners and we have much to learn in this world.

Motherhood takes it's toll. It is a 24/7 job that never ends once you become a mother. You always think about, worry about, pray for, take care of and love on your babies, no matter how old they get. I have felt a great worry about my parenting and whether I was doing it "the right way." Beyond Bath Time: Embracing Motherhood as a Sacred Role (True Woman) by Erin Davis gives me so much encouragement. We are designed to be mothers. We will fail and fall short but our purpose is to raise and train our children to be followers of Christ and we are the ones training them for the legacy. It's a daunting task but in this book, she give great examples of mothers in the Bible whom have gone before and none of them were perfect and they raised some unbelievable men and women of God.

I seriously urge you to read this book if you are a mother or plan to be a mother at some point. I am halfway through this book and it has opened my eyes in such encouraging ways and given me such great inspiration! I cannot wait to keep reading this book and look forward to nap time when I get a chance to read the next chapter.

No Longer Just Surviving...

Well hello little blog! I've missed you!

I finally feel like I'm getting a handle back on life! Praise God! I have been in survival mode for almost a year now and I am seeing the light now.

Pregnancy is hard on my body. I feel sick for the majority of the time, lack energy and just don't have motivation to do anything. Over the 38 weeks I was pregnant all the extra I had in me went to Aston and Max and even then, I didn't feel like they were getting all that they deserved!

As soon as Leia was delivered, I seriously felt like a new person. I had energy (even though we had sleepless nights) and felt like I could once again conquer the things I'd been missing. I was hugely blessed to have Max home with me for 3 1/2 weeks after she came and that made me spoiled!

Then reality hit. Max went back to work, Aston was sharing mommy all day and really jumping into the "terrible two's" title. Life as a mom of 2 kids is hard. Harder then I expected and different then I anticipated. Trying to be everything to two little people is EXHAUSTING and rewarding at the same time.

I have felt very alone in this new venture and felt like I was the only one who struggles with being the always on mom. After much prayer, a little break down and some very God ordained blogs and instagram feeds, I am more encouraged, feeling less alone and am determined to lean more heavily on God in this challenging time.

I'm working on making more "me" time, while that will be looking a bit different then it used to. I'm planning on reading more, getting more quiet time on my own (if both children nap at the same time) and focusing on what I am called to do...be a mom.

This little blog will probably be changing a bit as I transition into a new place in my life. I will still post recipes and crafts but more importantly I'll be posting about life. I'll be writing more for me out of a journaling type experience in hopes that it can encourage someone else and just as a place to stop and gather my thoughts. Things will be looking a lot different then it has before but thats how life goes right? We grow, God changes us and we move on, following Him to more intensional ways to spend our days.

Easter 2013

This Easter was so much fun for us! Aston is at the perfect age to really get into all the holiday activities and is so excited about everything!

We started our festivities on Friday with dying eggs. Aston thought it was the best thing in the whole world! He kept exclaiming, "OOOOOOOO!" So much fun.

 Isn't it just the best thing ever! And check out that green hand!

Saturday morning, we did our Easter baskets since daddy wasn't going to be home on Sunday until later.

 Aston loved his pillow from Sarah and Abraham! It's just so stinkin' cute!

 Then on Easter, we went up to Maxwell's parents house for a late lunch when Max and his brother Sam got off work at the church. Here are some of our family pictures.

 My cute boys in their hats!

 After lunch we hunted Easter eggs. Aston discovered the candy right away!

 Grandma Betty gave him his Easter "basket."

 And chocolate. We have discovered that chocolate is his arch enemy. He did not sleep much that night :)

We had a great day celebrating that our Savior lives! We are so blessed to have Jesus in our lives!